JAZZ REVIEW;Veteran Drummer in Sync With His Youthful Sidemen

The drummer Roy Haynes started his set on Wednesday night at the Village Vanguard by playing the rhythms of the tune "Green Chimneys" on his snare drum. The band joined in, underscoring the composition's accents; melody and rhythm joined together.

And for the rest of the set they intertwined. Mr. Haynes, at 70, is one of jazz's great drummers, enormously responsive and interactive, and for any hint of a rhythmic change by his soloists, he followed or suggested a new idea. He articulated every melody or riff, and on one composition, in waltz time, he changed meters regularly, making the tune a field for group improvisation.

Mr. Haynes's band is made up of some of the best young musicians working in New York, including Donald Harrison on alto saxophone, Dave Kikowski on piano and Dwayne Burno on bass. Mr. Harrison, whose playing has blossomed recently, was quietly magnificent, thinking about each note he played. Slight pitch differences gave each note its own emotion, and Mr. Harrison rarely seemed to be playing pre-planned lines. He shouted some blues phrases, and the way he approached the basic pulse of each piece changed idea by idea, giving Mr. Haynes plenty of rhythmic material to play with.

The group was intent on dynamics, which made the music dramatic. Mr. Haynes cut his volume, or used a metallic rim shot or two. He surrounded the soloists with swirling sound, seemingly using each limb to play different meters and rhythms, producing a storm of percussion. And at the end of a wild solo, he jumped up from behind his kit, signaling the end. It was startling, and dramatic, and the audience, realizing it had witnessed something special, gave Mr. Haynes and his band an extended ovation.